Chimp & See Talk

Gorilla or Chimp?

  • DataDroid by DataDroid moderator

    I tagged gorilla, but I'm not entirely sure. What are some good ways to tell the difference when they're partially obscured?

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  • MimiA by MimiA scientist, moderator

    Hi @DataDroid.

    This one is a chimp - but it can be confusing so no worries!

    One easy rule of thumb is to check out where the site is - cool-silence is in west africa and there are no gorillas there, so that's an easy way

    When we get to some sites with chimps and gorillas, some easy things to look out for:

    Gorillas usually travel together

    Gorillas are a lot bigger than chimps, even the females. Chimps are more lanky than gorillas too.

    The male silverbacks are very distinctive and very large, much bigger than chimps and their forelimbs are much longer than their stubby hindlimbs, so their back slopes downwards much more than chimps.

    Gorillas tend to be rounder, they have big guts since they eat a lot more leaves than chimps, and they need that big gut for digesting all that plant matter (chimps eat more fruit, though they can have some pretty impressive bellies too).

    You can't see the testicles of male gorillas, they are pretty tiny, which is the opposite of chimps.

    Female gorillas do not have sexual swellings

    I hope that helps a bit!

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  • DataDroid by DataDroid moderator

    Thanks; I'll keep it in mind.

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  • Veegee by Veegee

    I had similar video, without the side view, just walking away, back to camera, and it looked so large, I said it was a gorilla, but think, after
    looking at this, it was a chimp now

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  • MimiA by MimiA scientist, moderator

    No worries Veegee - you will get the hang of it as you watch more 😃

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  • catseyes9 by catseyes9 in response to DataDroid's comment.

    I believe that is is a chimp. If you look really closely, you will be able to tell because of the smaller head. I thought it was a gorilla at first , too! No worries, you'll get better as time goes on... 😃

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  • MimiA by MimiA scientist, moderator

    Cross posting from: http://talk.chimpandsee.org/#/boards/BCP000000q/discussions/DCP0000sme

    In addition to all the things we look for in chimps - gorillas can be identified by their nose prints! http://thejunglenook.tumblr.com/post/90289331540/identity-indicators

    also some added fun facts about gorillas:

    The males have small testicles and the females do not have swellings (or very small swellings), so its really hard to tell subordinate males from subordinate and adult females.

    Gorillas live in really varied group types there can be:

    • lone silver backs (adult males ranging on their own)
    • bachelor groups (all male groups)
    • single male groups (only one silverback and >1 females and subadults, juveniles, infants)
    • multimale group (more than one silverback and > females and subadults, juveniles, infants) (almost never seen in western gorillas and when they are seen it is usually transient)
    • in western lowland gorilla we also see non-breeding groups (which include sub adult females, and males of varrying ages) but i am not sure if these have been observed in mountain gorillas

    more info: http://www.berggorilla.org/en/gorillas/gorilla-numbers/articles-numbers-groups/gorilla-group-formation-and-dynamics-1/

    I also found this old slide i had in one of my presentations 😃

    one

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  • ARD1999 by ARD1999

    THERE WAS A GORILLA MOVING AROUND THE FOREST

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  • ARD1999 by ARD1999

    GORILLA STOPS WALKS ON ALL 4 TURNS AWAY

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